Welcome to The Write Stuff

Category: Let’s Get Technical

Metaphor and simile: What is the difference? Technically speaking, the most common difference between metaphors and similes are described as this: metaphors state that an object is something it is not (i.e. the man was a ferocious tiger) while similes state that an object is similar to or like an object it is not (i.e. […]

Character Development Through Archetypes In a previous post, the idea of character archetypes was briefly discussed with the use of a character archetype wheel. These character archetypes are the roles that characters typically fall into as seen in the following detailed wheel: The problem with simply following character archetypes, however, is that many characters do […]

Adjectives and Adverbs The most common complaint or issue that authors have when it regards adjectives and adverbs is their overuse. Overusing adjectives or adverbs can lead to a form of ‘telling’ writing in which the writer is ‘pigeon holing’ the reader into their world. Look for example at the following sentence: The dark blue […]

Dialogue Dialogue, it can make or break a film, novel or play. So when it comes to dialogue how can you master some techniques to making creative, unique and fascinating dialogue that suspends disbelief, rather than creates disbelief? Here are a few tips and ideas to improve your dialogue writing: Understand Your Characters Characters are […]

Grammar Grammar is hardly a topic of conversation for any dinner table or party, yet it is an incredibly necessary tool for any writer. While readers read for the information and ideas a reader conveys, a clearer understanding of the rules of the language they write in will always prove incredibly useful. As a disclaimer, […]

All writing needs to begin with the technical basis: it needs an understanding of techniques to help form a backbone. The following series of writing advice blog posts will focus on the technical elements of writing. From structure, to grammar and punctuation, all the way through to how to write appropriate conclusions and introductions. So: […]